Return Ticket The train dashes between trees, ducking roads and leaping rivers. The ticket collector stands with hands in pockets at the door to the first class compartments. His buttons have been polished one by one, and glimmer in the creamy morning sun. He doesnt notice, or doesnt care, that Ive put my feet up on the plush blue velvet seats. I dont draw attention to myself. I look at the scene flickering past; grass, fences and trees stretched out at speed like bubblegum about to snap. My bed at home is more comfortable than the one back here, but I had to leave, and Im lucky to have taken some of that comfort with me. The railway rattles past a zoo and the children always gasp as their parents point upward at the giraffes. If youre lucky you can see deer and llamas too, or possibly even an elephant. The children lose count of the giraffes as we steam on past the tall trees. I look up at the shadows on the ceiling. Its so good to have a holiday. Telling Two Stories I think the Storytelling album works well. It works better than a film of the same name I saw a few months ago. It seems that Belle and Sebastian have ended up writing the soundtrack to a film which doesnt exist. Whereas Solondz builds up character and emotion for the purpose of tearing them down, Belle and Sebastian paint characters simply to show what they think and feel, and not to put them through the gnashers of a plot. As a consequence the characters in the songs have more humanity than I remember them having in the film. I was a little worried about the dialogue sections, as they make the songs inescapable from the film, but theyre some of the best lines from the film, and they fit well. Without them this would be a good little mini-album rather than a soundtrack album, but they arent painful and barely prick the skin. I saw the Dr Seuss film The 5000 Fingers of Dr T a few weeks ago. Apart from being a great film, its also a film which, like Storytelling, was ripped about by the studios and its director. As a result, whats supposed to be a musical has most of its songs missing, props appear and disappear, storylines seem bizarre or nonsensical, and creaky beginning and end sequences are clamped about the middle of the film to show that gee whiz, it was all just a dream!. Like I said, its a good film - you should see it if you ever get the chance - but I think its a dreadful shame all the extra songs and scenes were lost. The Storytelling album reminds me of how those offcuts must be; trampled and scuffed on the cutting room floor. They tell half a story, and make the film a different film. Theyre disjointed and some a little strange. But Im glad they were collected together and straightened out for us to hear. Jamboree! Ive had a few troubles recently, and at work weve been under a ban on excessive internet use, so I havent posted for a while. Even this ones being written at home looking out at a whitewashed house with a red-brick chimney. Ill have to smuggle it into the office in my lunchbox, I think. I apologise in advance for the pickle stains. So belated hellos to all those folks I spoke to at ATP and hey heys to those I met on a windswept Brighton beach last week. It was a very eventful seaside jamboree, with the explosive combination of an entire mixtape team, ddr, pork and chips, and a big gay sailor called Mark who ran about by the waters edge with his ball blowing in the breeze. Brighton, eh! I also met a girl with the same name as me and was worried that we might be so alike that we could explode if I got too close. Luckily, though, we were wearing different socks, and, well, she was a girl, so disaster was avoided. Did everyone enjoy the Jubilee? I stayed in bed all morning and watched the football. Even the Queen wasnt allowed to do that! Instead, strangely, she went to Slough. It isnt easy being a Queen, you know. AND shes legally obliged to wave like shes got a wooden hand and to wear a crown which weighs as much as a bulldogs belly. Bye! Robin x PS: Vote for Alison, because she urinated in the shower, which I think is DISGUSTING! Alex is so funny! He has to STAY! PPS: Mr Moore said : "Now that the new B&S album has been released I wonder if the band will find some news to tell us any time soon?" A quite important piece of B+S news new album, new songs etc. - seems to have passed some of you by. Here it is: http://www.nme.com/news/101602.htm _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+